Dawn Golden – Still Life

Step after step, I regard old landscapes that, though familiar, are unmistakably different because I am different. I get stuck thinking about who I am in relation to who I was quite often and end up scrutinizing and dissecting decisions and their subsequent actions. Though I feel like I have matured a great deal in my years I can’t help but feel like a part of me never aged, and as I look back he looks forward and regards what I’ve become in real time. We are two on opposite ends of the sidewalk, slowly walking towards the one another, watching forever. In my mind, this scene is scored by Dawn Golden’sStill Life.

Dexter Tortoriello, AKA Dawn Golden, understands this nostalgic feeling – or maybe I only understood it after I listened to the album. Tortoriello’s forward thinking production was recognized by Diplo and, despite the difference in sound and mood, resulted in his signing to Mad Decent. Still Life was recorded over the last three years at the Mad Decent Studios in Los Angeles where Tortoriello says he had learned much from sharing a studio with Diplo and from being a part of that world. The album plays as a confessional compilation of stories. They are examined as exhibits of the past – through glass with perspective afforded by time. Tortoriello describes it as, “If American Beauty was set in the Tron world.”